The Revenge of Raijinn
by Pokepikachu1
Summary: A tournament held only once every 25 years is being hosted once again. But what happens when a young man that was betrayed and disappeared 5 years ago decides to return? More importantly, what could be bad enough to make him? Dark Ash.
1. The Coronation

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 1: The Coronation

On a small island, in the middle of the ocean, a storm raged; winds blowing with enough strength to level mountains, rain falling with enough intensity to dent even the strongest steel, and lighting striking almost constantly, lighting up the area. Pokémon found whatever shelter they could. Nothing could possibly survive in such a storm.

Nothing, that is, except for the two figures currently standing on the edge of a cliff, watching the storm pass by, never touching them, seeming almost afraid of their very presence.

One was a human, messy raven hair covering the unique amber-colored eyes on his face as the wind softly blew around him, causing the black trench coat he wore to flutter in an almost ethereal manner.

_(It looks like it's finally time)_ said the thing next to him.

The eyes, once so full of warmth and caring, but now so cold and lifeless, stared out over the ocean before finally turning to the human-like creature next to him.

Next to the young man stood an even more mysterious figure, dressed in nothing but a robe, similar to those of clerics of old. The robe was a gold color, seeming to flow of its own accord in a mesmerizing fashion. On the back of the robe was a deep blue thunderbolt. Covering the figure's face was a hood, another deep blue thunderbolt imprinted on it. The only part of the figure that could be seen was its eyes, deep yellow with black pupils, the rest of its body being hidden by the flowing robe.

"That it does, my friend. That it does," stated the young man, showing no emotion before finally smirking. "We shouldn't keep the legendaries waiting, now should we?" he intoned sarcastically.

The figure in the gold robe merely chuckled. _(You know as well as I do that they would for an eternity before angering you. But I don't want to be late for my own ceremony.)_

The man sighed, knowing his partner was right. "Fine," he finally said. "I suppose that it isn't every day that they manage to cease their squabbling long enough to crown a new legendary." "But isn't this," he gestured to the storm raging around them "a little much?"

The robed creature merely continued chuckling. _(Hey, let me show off every once in a while. Just because you hate even the smallest amount of attention doesn't mean that you have drag the rest of us down with you) _teased the figure.

The man merely sighed again, gesturing to his shoulder as a bolt of lightning struck down upon them. Had anyone been there, they would have seen that the robed figure had disappeared. In its place was a small, yellow mouse that jumped onto the shoulder of the man before the two of them disappeared in a bright blue and yellow flash, not leaving any sign that they had ever been there.

All across the world, the storm raged, covering everything. Scientists were baffled, unable to ascertain where the storm had come from, and why it had arrived so quickly. As suddenly as it had come, the storm had stopped, baffling people even further. All of the pokémon in the world knew, however, exactly what it meant, and stopped what they were doing, whether it was battling, relaxing, or even sleeping, and stared up at the sky, running outside if they weren't there already.

This had only happened one other time in history. The last time that every pokémon had gathered in such a manner was when the Chosen One had finally come into his power, stopping the capture of Lugia and the destruction of the world.

Very few knew this, however, and of those that did, even fewer knew why it was happening now.

Outside the headquarters of the Pokémon League stood Mr. Charles Goodshow, the head of the Pokémon League and all of its affairs, and Scott Enishida, the owner and proprietor of the Battle Frontier. They were flanked by the four champions of the regions, the head frontier brain, and the two most notable professors of all time. They were all gazing up at what had been, just moments before, a raging storm.

"What was that about?" inquired Wallace, the current Hoenn champion. He turned around to look at the others to see their responses.

Steven Stone, the current champion of Kanto, merely shrugged, informing his old friend that he had no clue what it could possibly be, and turned towards the three others.

Cynthia and Lance, the current champions of Sinnoh and Johto respectively, shared a nervous glance. Mr. Goodshow merely sighed, while Paul Shinji, the head frontier brain, and Scott merely chuckled. Samuel and Gary Oak, two well-known professors of pokémon, merely shook their heads.

"I had hoped that this would wait until after the Tournament of the Divine, but it seems that I no longer have any choice," stated Mr. Goodshow, looking his age for once.

Steven and Wallace shared a nervous glance. They had never seen Mr. Goodshow so serious. In fact, they had never even thought such a thing even remotely possible. Cynthia and Lance sighed, knowing just what this meant, and that life was about to get a lot more complicated.

"You must swear to never reveal what I am about to tell the two of you. This information is known by very few people in the world. Almost all of them are standing here," he gestured to the other 7 people surrounding them "and have taken this oath as well." They looked at the others in shock and, noticing the solemn looks on the others' faces, merely nodded their heads.

Scott stepped forward and asked one question, a question that would change their lives forever. "What do the two of you know about a man by the name of Ash Ketchum?"

**AN: Well, this is my first fanfiction, hope all of you like it. I got the inspiration to do this from all of the numerous Dark Ash stories on here, especially **_fujin of shadows_** Dark Ash stories. I also would like to thank my good friends **_Catherine P._** and **_Tony P._** who got me hooked on fanfiction in the first place. If nobody likes this story then I'll probably stop, but if my writing is somehow appealing to you guys, then I'll keep writing it. It has a lot of common elements of Dark Ash stories, but I plan on incorporating some unique elements.**


	2. PreTournament Planning

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 2: Pre-Tournament Planning

"Normal Talk"  
_Thoughts_  
_(Pokémon Talk)_

High above the earth, in the very heavens themselves, there was a place known to mankind only as the Hall of Origin. It was there that Arceus, the God of all pokémon, created time, space, and reality by creating Dialga, Palkia, and Giritina, the pokémon of Time, Space, and the Distortion World, respectively. It was there that Arceus created the earth, the sea, the sky, and pokémon and humans. It was there that the young man and his partner appeared.

IIIII

_(THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!)_ A deep booming voice could be heard throughout the Hall of Origin, seeming to come from everywhere at once.

_(I REFUSE TO LET A…A…A MOUSE JOIN THE RANKS OF THE LEGENDARIES!)_ The deep booming voice continued to shout, though nobody was listening.

Arceus just sighed, attempting to ignore Palkia's rants. It had been that way for months, ever since its defeat at the hands of Ashura and Pikachu. Part of the coronation process was to defeat every legendary in single combat, a feat that none had accomplished. At least, none until the two of them had come along.

Finally, the ranting got to be too much for Arceus, and just as it was about to command Palkia to shut up, another voice beat it to the punch.

_(I believe that that is enough out of you)_ said a cold, unforgiving voice as a blue psychic aura surrounded Palkia, causing it to finally shut its mouth.

Arceus sighed in relief as sweet silence finally reached its ears.

_(Thank you Mewtwo)_ it stated in gratitude.

_(No trouble at all.)_ Mewtwo smirked before saying telepathically, _(Besides, Palkia needs to learn when to talk and when everyone wants to remove its voice box in the most painful manner imaginable.)_

Palkia's face began to turn red and steam began coming out of its ears as it attempted to escape its psychic prison.

Arceus sweatdropped, sighing again, before a cold chuckle rang out through the hall, instantly quieting the entire hall full of legendaries.

"How you managed to convince humanity you were all-powerful is beyond me when, even now, you act like a bunch over-powered four year olds."

All of the pokémon stayed silent, not daring to move, while Palkia quickly paled and stopped fighting upon hearing the voice. Arceus simply chuckled along with him, while Mewtwo's smirk grew even wider.

All of the pokémon quickly turned to see a young man in a black trench coat, fluttering despite the lack of wind, with a Pikachu sitting on his shoulder.

Ash smirked before saying, "Miss me?"

IIIII

It was complete pandemonium in the League Headquarters. All the champions, elite four, gym leaders, frontier brains, and even the professors had been called only an hour after the end of the freak storm that had happened. All they had been told was that they were to report to the main headquarters immediately, using any means to get there. Luckily, the psychic trainers were able to easily get anybody too far away to normally make the journey.

Mr. Goodshow would have been amused, though most likely not surprised, to know that he was having the same issues that Arceus was having at that moment. He sighed as two of the more *ahem* _outspoken_ gym leaders, Brock and Misty, the gym leaders of Pewter and Cerulean respectively, demanded to know why they were there.

Just as Mr. Goodshow was about to lose his normally calm demeanor, a normally quiet voice was heard above the din.

"ALL OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Anabel shouted.

The entire room instantly shut up in shock. None of them had ever heard Anabel quite so irritable. The silence didn't last long though, as two very *cough* _persistent_ gym leaders started running their mouths again.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" screamed Misty.

"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO TELL US TO SHUT UP?" Brock shouted.

It would have continued this way for a long time if Sabrina hadn't used her psychic powers to knock them out, quite effectively shutting them up.

Mr. Goodshow sighed in relief, his poor aching eardrums getting a quick respite.

"Thank you Ms. Lila, Ms. Natsume," he thanked as everyone around them nodded, glad for the respite, no matter how short.

"It is time that I let all of you know the reasons I asked you here tonight. The first reason is in regards to the upcoming tournament. Now as you all know, it has been tradition for the Champions and other trainers selected by them or by the head of the League to not be allowed to use their most powerful pokémon in the preliminaries." The entire room nodded, with the exception of Brock and Misty who were still out cold. This was common knowledge; it had been this way since the Pokémon League itself was established and the Tournament of the Divine created by Arceus itself.

"I am afraid that this will not be the case for this year's tournament," Mr. Goodshow sighed.

Almost instantly, everyone in the room reacted. Some, such as the champions, the elite fours, Professor Oak, and Brandon, the ex-head frontier brain, paled. Others, such as Gary, Paul, Sabrina, Anabel, and Scott, smiled widely or, in Paul's case, smirked evilly. Most, however, were in an uproar.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!" shouted Clair. "YOU KNOW THAT ANY OF THE CHAMPIONS COULD DECIMATE MOST OF US IN NO TIME AT ALL! BESIDES, THE RULE MAKES SURE THE CHAMPIONS LEARN AS WELL!"

Cynthia quickly stood up, stating with force, "All of you, be quiet and let Mr. Goodshow explain."

Seeing the fear in her eyes and her pale skin shocked everyone nearly as much as Anabel's outburst had. They all quickly looked to the head of the table, where the four champions, Mr. Goodshow, Scott, and Brandon where seated. They saw the same look on all of their faces, except for Scott, who was chuckling quietly to himself.

"Thank you Ms. Shirona," Mr. Goodshow stated. "Now, all of you are aware of the freak storm that happened a mere hour ago, correct?" Mr. Goodshow inquired. There were nods all around as they remembered the odd storm that had left as quickly as it had arrived.

"That was no freak storm," Scott stated bluntly.

This time, there was no outburst, only confusion from most of those there.

A look of realization appeared on Clair's face before being replaced by utter fear. The pieces all fit together with what little Lance had told her on their way there and what Cynthia had told her of the ancient legends.

"Y-Y-You can't possibly mean that the storm was the sign?" Clair stammered out nervously.

Mr. Goodshow simply nodded in response.

Clair paled even more and started to shake, scaring the other gym leaders; they had never seen her like this before.

"They did it. They actually did it." Clair went into shock as she just murmured the phrases over and over again, rocking slightly in her seat.

The gym leaders merely looked on in shock, none able to talk, not even Brock or Misty, who had woken up just as Clair rolled into the fetal position.

Cynthia spoke up, knowing that the subject they were on was her specialty.

"Long ago, before the birth of Arceus, there was only chaos," she stated, going into a 'lecture mode.' "Many believe chaos to have been a vast nothingness, empty and devoid of everything." The rest of the assembled company nodded, knowing the ancient myth. "That is false," Cynthia bluntly stated, shocking the others. "Chaos was not a black emptiness, but in fact made up of pure elemental power, constantly clashing. When Arceus was born, it knew that it would not live long without a way to control the power, so it made beings to control the elemental power. Arceus knew that, in the future, the elemental power would split into a total of 17 elements, so it made 16 beings, giving himself the power of neutral energy, or what we now call, the 'normal type.' The 17 beings knew that anything they would create could easily be destroyed in a fit of anger or accidental burst of power, so they decided to leave our dimension. Each one used their power to create their own plane of existence, one where they would be surrounded by their element for all of eternity. Before sealing themselves in their planes of self-imposed exile, they left a way for Arceus to summon them if the need ever arose. They left behind the 16 plates. Arceus promised to them that, when they felt they had complete and total control of their element, he would allow them to return one by one."

"WHAT?" shouted Misty and Brock, interrupting Cynthia's tale.

"WHY WOULD ARCEUS LET THEM COME BACK IF THEY COULD DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD?" screeched Misty.

Mr. Goodshow stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs "BOTH OF YOU QUIET DOWN THIS INSTANT!" The two of them instantly shut up, glaring at Mr. Goodshow.

Cynthia continued her story as if she had never been interrupted. "From the 16 plates that he was given, Arceus created pokémon, beings that could control the elements. He then created humans, who had no control over the elements, but had the ability to technologically advance. In this way, he hoped to keep the balance over the elements. At first, the ancient pokémon had little to no control over the elements, and humans had not yet gained enough mental capability to progress. That quickly changed over time. The longer the Elemental Deities, as they are now called, stayed in their realms, the more control they gained over the elements, and the more power they were able to give to the pokémon that Arceus had linked to them."

"Do all of you remember that at the last Tournament of the Divine, electrical pokémon were at their peak in power?" Mr. Goodshow questioned. He was met with blank stares from the younger trainers, but the older ones, especially Lt. Surge, Watson, and Volkner, nodded vigorously.

Seeing their nods, Mr. Goodshow continued. "The Tournament of the Divine, as you all, was the first thing Arceus asked of us once we learned to work with pokémon. It asked us this so it could test the control the Deities had over their element. During the last tournament, the power of electric pokémon was so great, that Arceus claimed that the Deity of Thunder, Raijinn, had enough control to be allowed out. He spent the next 24 years looking for the one to control Raijinn's powers. He finally found one that met his approval, the only human that every legendary fully trusted. He told this human of the risks involved, and he and his partner agreed to host him. The two of them went into intense training to learn to control Raijinn's powers, Arceus slowly allowing Raijinn to manifest himself within the two of them. Raijinn's powers went to the pokémon, while the control went to the human. In this way, Arceus ensured that, however unlikely, the power would never be abused. The storm was the signal that the training was complete, and that it was time for the coronation of the new Lords of Thunder."

The entire room was silent for a moment before Brock burst out into laughter, quickly followed by Misty.

"Do you really expect us to believe that load of crap?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, what do you take us for? Team Rocket?" Misty asked, trying to control her laughter.

Mr. Goodshow was stunned at the outright idiocy of two of his gym leaders, as was nearly everyone else. Five people, however, were angered beyond belief. Gary, Paul, Sabrina, Anabel, and, surprisingly, Scott stood up and shouted "LEAVE!"

This infuriated Brock and Misty who yelled "NO!"

Scott began shaking in anger, causing everyone, even Paul, to look terrified. The shaking got worse and worse, before it suddenly stopped and he smirked.

"Fine then," he calmly stated, "how about we settle this in a pokémon battle, me against the two of you. If I win, then you two leave the premises immediately and do not return unless summoned. If you win, then the two of you are allowed to run the rest of the meeting however you want."

The two of them looked at him incredulously before agreeing to the terms.

_This will be simple!_ Brock thought._ Soon enough, all of the good looking girls will be sitting through the rest of the meeting in_ **(THIS PORTION OF BROCK'S THOUGHTS HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE)**.

_Soon enough, I'll be spending the rest of this boring meeting in the pool while Brock pervs on the rest of the girls._ Misty thought, excited at the prospect of being alone in a pool for hours to relax and not have to attend the rest of the stupid meeting.

The three of them stepped out on to the battlefield in the headquarters, Scott, Anabel, Sabrina, Gary, Paul, and Mr. Goodshow smirking all the way.

**AN: Here we are, the second chapter! Thanks all of you, whether you reviewed or plan on just lurking, I'm glad for your support! Plenty of background info, and some epic PWNING, Scott style next chapter. The scene with them around the head of the table shouting was the image that kind of inspired the story, so I'm glad to get it out there. By the way, there's a poll on my page about which girls I should include in the story, so all of you should vote on it!**


	3. Scott's Surprise

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 3: Scott's Surprise

"Normal Talk"

_Thoughts_

_(Pokémon Talk)_

**Disclaimer: Uhhhhh, yeah. If you think that I own Pokémon or owned it in the previous chapters that I forgot to put this in, then I have a nice padded cell ready for you…on the moon.**

IIIII

"This will be a double pokémon battle of Scott Enishida against Misty Waterflower and Brock Takeshi," shouted Mr. Goodshow as the teams took their places. "There will be no substitutions allowed. When both of a team's pokémon are unable to battle, the opposing side will be declared the victor. BEGIN!" he shouted, signaling the start of the match with his colored flags.

"Crush them Golem!" shouted Brock, sending out the megaton pokémon.

"Go, Starmie!" shouted Misty, sending out the mysterious pokémon.

Scott chuckled before saying, "It's been a long time since I last battled. Zapdos, Lanturn, let's show them why I won the last Tournament of the Divine!" shouted Scott, much to most of the assembled company.

"WHAT?" shouted Misty and Brock, both of which had been expecting an easy win.

"Oh, didn't you know?" drawled Scott in a harsh sarcastic tone that only Mr. Goodshow had ever heard before. The tone alone was enough to send shivers down most of their spines, but Mr. Goodshow merely chuckled.

"Scott is one of the most powerful trainers of all time," chuckled Mr. Goodshow. "In fact, he's done things with his pokémon that I have only seen one other trainer of his caliber." This shocked everyone, even the champions, who, while knowing that Scott had won the last tournament, had no clue that Mr. Goodshow held him in such high regard.

Scott started to laugh. "Thanks Charles," he said to Mr. Goodshow. "But both of us know that even the two of us combined would be hard pressed to defeat _him_." This left the crowd absolutely speechless. Mr. Goodshow, as the Pokémon League head, was also the world champion and was, to their knowledge, undefeated. If Scott was as good as he said, then they should have no problem taking down anybody, including Arceus itself.

Samuel Oak burst into laughter at this, earning him incredulous looks from most of the group. "The two of you tried to beat him?" he managed to gasp out in between laughs. "I warned you that he would decimate the two of you if you tried."

Scott and Mr. Goodshow merely continued to chuckle.

Misty, after the shock wore off, was getting angry that they were underestimating her, and yelled "Starmie, use Hydro Pump on Zapdos!"

A look of anger and pure loathing quickly crossed Scott's face before he yelled out his command.

"Zapdos, activate plan Episilon!" he shouted, before Zapdos threw up a Light Screen.

"That's it?" asked Candice. "That's all he's doing?"

The only answer she got was a smirk from Mr. Goodshow and Professor Oak before the Hydro Pump hit the Light Screen. As soon as it did, though, Starmie screamed in pain before passing out.

"Starmie is unable to battle, please return it Ms. Waterflower," shouted Mr. Goodshow, snapping her out of the shock she had went into after her Starmie was knocked out.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" she screeched. "HE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING! HE MUST HAVE CHEATED!"

Scott chuckled darkly before stating, "Ms. Waterflower, weren't you ever taught any manners?" he chided sarcastically. "It's not good sportsmanship to attack someone before they're ready to start."

Misty screamed "WHY YOU STUPID SON OF A…"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence, however, as a dart hit the back of her neck, injecting a sleep-inducing substance into her system, causing her to instantly fall asleep.

The crowd turned to see Janine standing there, a blowgun in her hand.

"Misty Waterflower lost, therefore there is no reason for her to stay conscious if she plans on insulting others," stated Janine, causing everyone but Koga to sweatdrop, who merely nodded his agreement.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" shouted Brock, before being knocked out by his Golem being pushed into him by Scott's Lanturn's Hydro Pump.

"Finally," sighed Mr. Goodshow, before yelling "Golem and Starmie are both unable to battle. Therefore the winner is Scott Enishida!" He then turned to Sabrina before saying, "If you would be so kind Ms. Natsume?"

"With pleasure," stated Sabrina, wearing an evil smirk before asking her Alakazam to teleport them away, mentally adding to take them to the deepest part of the Viridian Forest, knowing just how much Misty hated bugs.

IIIII

Deep in the Hall of Origin was a chamber that none had been in since the creation of the universe. In it were 17 doors, including the one that Arceus and the legendaries entered through with Ash and Pikachu. They each had a faint glow to them, each a different color. As they walked through the door, the other legendaries looked around in awe, having never imagined such a room existing in the Hall. Arceus led them to the yellow door, before turning to Ash and giving him a coffin-shaped glowing object that he recognized as a plate.

_(You know what to do)_ stated Arceus, its powerful voice ringing throughout the silent room. Ash merely nodded before Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and, in a flash of light, turned into the hooded figure. They walked, in sync, up to the door before they both took the plate and placed it into a hole on the door. As they did, a bright yellow flash lit up the room, before electricity ran through their bodies, causing them to glow, but not harming them. They began to chant:

"_Oh God of Thunder, hear our plea,_

_Give your blessing to my partner and me._

_Oh King of Storms, we ask not for gain,_

_But to protect others in your name._

_Oh Lord of Lightning, hear our cry,_

_Let your power flow lest your servants die._

_Together we call your title and name,_

_So you may walk the earth again._

_COME FORTH, RAIJINN SATOSHI!"_

Upon finishing the chant, the doors glowed brighter and brighter until all present except for Ash, Pikachu, and Arceus were forced to turn away.

Suddenly, the light died away, revealing one figure where two had been standing just moments before.

_(The coronation is complete)_ boomed Arceus. _(Raijinn Satoshi walks among us again!)_

IIIII

Mr. Goodshow sighed as the questions flew around on the short walk back to the meeting hall, most of them revolving around the battle that had just taken place moments ago. He rubbed his head as it started to ache painfully.

'_It's a great job!' they said. 'Tons of respect and all you have to do is fight a lucky kid once every decade or so!' they told me. HA! Guess they left the part about dealing with psychos out. Not to mention all this 'Raijinn' business,_ thought Charles Goodshow as he rubbed his forehead, trying to keep it from developing into a migraine. Luckily for Mr. Goodshow, Scott chose that moment to stand up.

"While I'm sure that all of you are curious about my battle, now is not the time to discuss such things," bluntly stated Scott, waiting for the room to quiet down before gesturing to Mr. Goodshow.

"Thank you Scott," stated Mr. Goodshow. "Now, as all of you know, the Tournament of the Divine is in 6 months. In light of the recent developments, the champions, Scott, and I have all agreed that it would be in everybody's best interest to train as much as possible before then. Therefore, Professor Oak has agreed to split all of the trainers invited to the tournament into seven different groups. The groups shall be led by Cynthia, Lance, Wallace, Steven, Lucian, Karen, and Drake. They shall be in charge of their groups, as well as responsible for their learning, hopefully learning themselves in the process. Are there any questions?" inquired Mr. Goodshow. After looking around seeing none, he nodded to Professor Oak who stood up and cleared his throat.

"Alright then, the first group shall be comprised of…"

IIIII

"_Arceus, it has been too long my friend,"_ said the figure as it stepped closer to the group, revealing what it looked like. It was similar to Pikachu's humanoid form, but the hood was down, revealing Ash's face.

_(Satoshi, my friend, I am so glad to see you again!)_ Arceus cheerfully said.

"_As am I Arceus. How long has it been since we last saw each other? As you know, time does not exist in my plane of existence."_

_(It has been over 4 billion years)_ replied Arceus.

"_Really? Who else is back?"_ inquired Raijinn.

_(Nobody, you are the first back.)_

"_YES!"_ shouted Raijinn, pumping his fist in the air. _"I won both bets!"_

_(What bets?)_ asked Arceus, confused.

"_Oh, Hikami and I had a bet about when I would be free, and Mikami and I had a bet as to who would get out first. I won both bets!"_ explained Raijinn.

Arceus merely sweatdropped. _I suppose that this really shouldn't be a surprise,_ it thought. _Oh well, maybe this will be a good influence on Ash. After what happened, Raijinn might be just the thing he needs._

**AN: Whew, finally got this chapter done. The poll is now closed, and the winners are Solidad and Zoey. I was a little surprised that, even though I added Solidad late (I think) she still managed to gain an overwhelming lead, with Zoey being a close second. The chapters will most likely be further apart now, probably one every week or two. Oh, and thanks to my friend **_TheFanatics_** who helped me with some ideas for Scott, reading some of my "iffy" portions, and listening to my insanity long enough for me to get some decent ideas out there :P. Also, I need to throw some characters into the tournament, so if you have any OC characters you want me to put in there, give me a brief description of them, their personality, and their team. Also, a surprise to the first reviewer who correctly explains how Scott knocked out Misty's Starmie :D!**

"**Pfttt, what are you gonna do, give them a virtual cookie?"**

"**HEY, YOU SHUT UP PIKA-MUSE!"**

"**WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT PUNS?" *Pika-Muse's cheeks start sparking***

***Backs away from the insane mouse-muse* Uh, I gotta go, bye!**

***Runs screaming like a little girl***


	4. Visit from a Deity

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 4: Visit from a Deity

"Normal"

_Thoughts_

~Elemental Gods~

_(Pokémon)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. However, my future self has traveled back in time to inform me that I do indeed create actual pokémon in the future. Unfortunately this leads to the third world war between myself and the rest of the world. Luckily, I win! And no, I'm NOT insane. My mother had me tested . . . multiple times.**

IIIII

"Of all of the ancient elemental gods, why do I get stuck with the insane, psychopathic child?" sighed Ash as he walked through the Hall of Origin.

~I resent that! I am not a child!~ shouted Raijinn.

Ash just sighed. "Fine. Why do I get stuck with the insane, psychopathic _pokémon_? Is that better?"

~Much,~ stated Raijinn.

Ash merely sighed again as Raijinn floated behind him.

_(Remember Chosen One, that it is YOU that took on this responsibility,)_ chuckled Arceus.

"I know, I know. But while you mentioned that he's a little nuts, you never said that he's absolutely _insane_!" sighed Ash.

~What's even better is the fact that you are the only human that can see me unless I merge with the two of you into my full god form or they have been blessed by one of my generals.~ Raijinn stated happily.

Ash sighed yet again. "Just my luck," he mumbled before chuckling to himself.

_(What's so funny?)_ asked Pikachu, secretly happy that his trainer laughed for the first time in what seemed like decades.

"Isn't hearing voices in one's head a sign of insanity? Coupled with seeing spirits that nobody else can see, I should be confined to a nuthouse," Ash managed to get out before bursting into full-blown laughter.

Arceus and Pikachu chuckled as well, while Raijinn just continued to be obliviously happy that he was finally back in the world of Pokémon.

IIIII

As the day slowly came to an end, Charles Goodshow and Scott were standing outside watching the sun set, as they heard a voice from behind.

"One of the few good things left in my life is the sunset. It somehow never fails to calm me down."

Both Goodshow and Scott whirled around to see a figure steeped in shadow, wearing a black trench coat and a Pikachu on his shoulder.

The figure smirked before saying "Long time, no see Scott, Charles."

"It has been quite a while hasn't it," stated Goodshow while Scott merely nodded.

"I hope you two were able to make ample use of the power storm this afternoon," stated Ash nonchalantly, as if a world-ending storm happened every day.

At this, both Goodshow and Scott wore devious smirks. "Yes we did Ash, or at least, Scott did. Unfortunately your _friends_ didn't find it very entertaining" drawled Goodshow, practically spitting the word 'friends'.

At this, Ash's smirk grew even wider. "Which ones?" he asked, curious as to who could have infuriated Scott enough to make him snap.

"The first two," stated Scott, still smirking.

"Ah, of course," said Ash, instantly realizing who they were talking about. Nobody ever said their names in his presence. Well, nobody that was _alive_ ever did anyway.

~I sense some of my generals!~ came a booming voice, causing Scott and Goodshow to glance around quickly, looking for the source. At these words, one of Scott's and one of Goodshow's pokéballs opened, revealing a Zapdos and a Raikou. Both immediately bowed their heads in their lord's presence.

_(My lord, we welcome you back to this world,)_ both said, causing their trainers to jerk back in shock as they heard their pokémon talk.

Seeing this, Raijinn raised an eyebrow, and said, ~You find these two humans worthy of my blessing?~

They both nodded their head and said, again in synchronization, _(Yes milord.)_

~Very well then,~ he said, before a yellow glow enveloped both Goodshow and Scott.

Suddenly, the glow disappeared and both Goodshow and Scott could see what looked like a mix between Ash and Pikachu's human form. They quickly realized who this was and each got down on one knee, bowing their heads.

"Thank you milord," they both said before Raijinn nodded, letting them know that they could stand again.

~Now, why don't you tell us just what happened that seem to have our friend here so . . . disturbingly happy,~ chuckled Raijinn, an smirk identical to Ash's forming on his face.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a _battle_, more of a slaughter," Scott said, smirking.

"What happened?" inquired Ash, genuinely curious.

"They pissed Scott off and he had Zapdos and Lanturn activate plan epsilon," stated Goodshow with an identical smirk on his face.

Ash chuckled darkly, saying, "Good, I'm glad. If anybody deserves to deal with one of your combo moves, it's those two morons."

Scott and Goodshow chuckled before Scott said, "Well, no matter how powerful my combo moves are, they're nowhere near as powerful as yours."

They all chuckled at this, before Goodshow brought the conversation back to a more serious topic.

"Ash, the groups have been divided up for the training session, and we planned yours according to your suggestions. You have been placed with Cynthia Shirona, Sabrina Natsume, Gary Oak, Anabel Lila, Paul Shinji, and yourself."

"Good, some of the few people that I can tolerate. How many of them know both of my identities?" asked Ash.

"Well, everyone in the training camp obviously knows your true identity, but none of them have seen you for years. They also all know that somebody bonded with Raijinn, and Cynthia knows that it was a man by the name of Ashura Satoshi. Only the champions and Paul Shinji know that you are the Chosen One. The only people in the world that know that you are Ashura Satoshi are Scott, Samuel Oak, and me, though I think that Paul suspects something."

"Good, let's keep it that way, but I'll tell Paul if he can't figure it out, though I think that he will. By the way, I'm letting you know now that I may have some . . . friends joining me in my training sessions," Ash chuckled.

"Fine," said Goodshow, shaking his head in mock exasperation as Scott started laughing.

Ash smirked before saying, "Well then, I'll see the two of you here in a week." As he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning hit him and, in a flash of light, he, Pikachu, and Raijinn disappeared.

Scott and Goodshow didn't say anything for a few seconds before Scott broke the silence.

"Well, you have to admit the man certainly knows how make an exit."

IIIII

**Well, that's all for this time folks. Sorry about not updating recently, but life decided that it hates me and wants to take away any free time I have. Also, my muse ran away for a while, but he's back now :D! Well, for now anyway. All you Zoey and Solidad fans, you're gonna have to wait a bit before I introduce them. Hope you all liked the chapter! By the way, I only got one guess about plan epsilon, which, while close, was incorrect, and one character submission D:! There's still time for your guess and submission until next time, at which point the practice shall start and the rest of the participants for the practice session will be announced. See you all then!**


	5. WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 5: WHO'S THAT POKÉMON? No, Seriously, Who is it?

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: I, Pokepikachu1, being of unsound mind and body, do hereby relinquish any and all claim that I may or may not hold at this point in time on the Pokémon franchise. I hereby bequeath all future claims onto my future self; let him do with it as he will. :P**

IIIII

ONE WEEK LATER

Outside the Pokémon League Headquarters located at Indigo Plateau, a large crowd was gathered, waiting apprehensively for the reason behind the summons that they had all received. In front of the building was a stage, upon which five figures stood. Three figures sat, chatting to one another, while the other two merely sat off to the side, wearing heavy cloaks. A sixth figure stood behind the two quiet ones, also wearing a heavy cloak, but seen by none. As the crowd continued talking, one of the people on stage stood up, causing the clamor to die down quickly.

"It's good to see so many faces here today, both new and old. I'm sure that all of you are wondering what you're doing here today so without further ado, let us begin!" At Mr. Goodshaw's words, the crowd began to cheer and two other men on stage stood up and walked to his side.

"On my left, I have the creator and head of the Battle Frontiers, Scott Enishida. On my right is the famed Pokémon Professor, Professor Samuel Oak."

Scott took over from Goodshow at this point, as he said, "As most of you know, the Tournament of the Divine is being held this year. It has been suggested that we use this time prior to the tournament to prepare ourselves and to better ourselves as trainers." At this point, Scott was interrupted by a particularly loud comment from the audience.

"_You_ may need to get better, but nobody can beat me!" shouted an obnoxious green-haired boy from the front of the crowd.

Goodshow raised his hand to his face and began to massage the bridge of his nose as Professor Oak attempted to deal with the boy.

"Now Max, we can always do better and learn from others, so…" at this point, Oak was interrupted by said green-haired brat, who began shouting.

"Just because you taught that second-rate loser, Ketchum, about Pokémon, doesn't mean that you can teach me!"

At these words, Oak, Scott, and Goodshow all stiffened slightly as the two cloaked figures stood up and stepped forward. They walked right up to the boy before stopping. One of them spoke to the boy, the coldness in his voice causing shivers to go down the spines of all who heard it.

"Really? Well then, if you're as great as you say you are, then you should have no problem beating me in a battle."

"FINE!" shouted Max, "I'LL SHOW EVERYONE JUST HOW GOOD I AM AND BEAT YOU!"

At these words, the cloaked man smirked and turned to Goodshow, Oak, and Scott, who were all wearing identical smirks.

"I hope that this won't be a problem Chuck, Sam, Scott," he said as the three men chuckled to themselves.

"Of course not sir, you know that you are free to use our facilities anytime you want," said Goodshow, chuckling even more at the shock that passed over the crowd at his use of the word 'sir'.

The man chuckled as well, before saying, "Sam, would you do the honors?"

Oak smirked. "Of course, sir," he said, before leading the way to the battlefield and standing in the judge's box, while the mysterious figure and Max stepped into their respective challenger boxes.

"This will be a one-on-one battle between Max Maple of Little Root Town and Ashura Satoshi of Ikazuchi Island. There will be no substitutions. Begin!"

"GO, SCEPTILE!" shouted Max, releasing the pokémon from its pokéball.

Ash merely smirked and said, "Lucario, may the aura be with you," and tossed the pokéball, releasing the pokémon.

'_I shall not fail you master!'_ said Lucario as he shifted into his fighting stance.

"SCEPTILE, USE LEAF BLADE!" shouted Max. Sceptile began running towards Lucario, the leaf on each arm glowing green.

'_You know what to do Lucario,'_ thought Ash to his faithful pokémon.

'_Yes master,'_ thought Lucario as he stood there, waiting for Sceptile to attack.

"What's wrong? Is your pokémon too scared to fight mine?" yelled Max, believing that he had already won.

Ash merely continued smirking as Sceptile drew closer. Right when his blade was about to hit Lucario, there was a bright blue flash. When everyone could see again, Sceptile was laying on the ground, obviously knocked out.

"The winner is Ashura Satoshi!" shouted Oak, raising the flag on Ash's side.

"Well, know that that's done…" started Scott before he was interrupted again by the brat.

"NO, HE MUST HAVE CHEATED! HE DIDN'T EVEN MOVE! THERE'S NO WAY HE WON!" shouted Max, as Brock, Misty, May, and Dawn shouted with him.

"Enough," Ash calmly stated, cutting through the shouting like a hot knife through butter. "You lost, get over it. Let this be a lesson to never underestimate an opponent."

"WHY YOU LITTLE…" shouted Brock as he rushed towards Ash, his fist raised, before he found himself at the point of two blades, one glowing yellow, the other glowing blue. The yellow blade was held by the other cloaked figure, while the blue was held by the Lucario.

Brock froze, not daring to move an inch with two obviously lethal swords pointed right at his neck.

"LET HIM GO, COWARD!" Misty shouted at Ash.

Ash, who had been chuckling at Brock's predicament, tensed slightly. When he next spoke, it was with a tone that caused even Misty to regret what she had just done.

"Don't _ever_ call me a coward," he seethed.

Misty shook with fear, but pulled together her courage (*cough* stupidity *cough*) before screeching yet again. "WHY NOT? IT'S WHAT YOU ARE! NOTHING BUT A COWARDLY LITTLE…" she froze as another figure suddenly materialized in front of her. Its eyes were the only part of it that she could see, crackling with barely restrained power, like a bolt of lightning waiting to strike.

~Be gone, mortals,~ the figure intoned, as a bright bolt of lightning struck the earth, blinding all who saw it. As the flash dissipated, the mysterious figure, Max, Misty, Brock, May, and Dawn had disappeared, while the rest of the crowd merely looked confused.

~Only Cynthia, Paul, Charles, Scott, and Samuel will remember that I have been here. Everyone else will believe that one of your pokémon teleported them away,~ Ash heard from next to him. He sighed in appreciation.

"Thanks. It's a bit early for them to know about you," he chuckled softly, returning Lucario to its pokéball after a word of thanks. "Now," he raised his voice, "I think it's time to continue your announcement Chuck." He smirked at the grimace Goodshow wore after hearing his hated nickname before vanishing with the other figure.

_Always one to make a dramatic exit_ he thought before turning back to the crowd. "Mr. Satoshi made the suggestion for the training period. It is his belief that any trainer can always get better. He will also be participating in the tournament and the training session. It is my advice to all of you not to anger him. He has only shown a fraction of his true power today, and can hold a grudge for a long time."

Scott took in the shocked faces before finishing his speech from earlier. "You will all now be told who your group leader is and where you will be training for the next 6 months." As he finished, Oak stepped up and began to organize the crowd.

IIIII

After the groups had been sorted out and told where they would be training, all but one left. The final group was composed of Cynthia, Paul, Sabrina, Anabel, and Gary. After taking them aside, Goodshow began to explain something to them.

"You may notice that your group has one less member than anyone else," he said, continuing upon seeing the nods from those present. "Well, the reason for that is that you have a final group member."

Paul asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "And who would that be?" he asked, smirking in anticipation.

"That would be me, Mr. Shinji," a voice from behind them stated coldly. The group whirled around to find themselves face to face with Ashura Satoshi.

IIIII

**AN: Hey everyone! I could probably write an author's note here, but I'm far too tired and/or lazy to do so.**


	6. Defeat the Huns

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 6: …To Defeat the Huns!

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashback_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: Blah Blah Blah Pokémon Blah Blah Blah lawsuits Blah Blah Blah not mine.**

IIIII

"Are you sure this is the group I'm supposed to train Goodshow?" asked Ash. "After all, I doubt any of their pokémon could stand even a single hit from one of mine."

At his words, Goodshow began chuckling. "Yes Ashura, this is the group. Despite what you may think, they're the best we have – besides you of course."

The rest of the group glanced towards Paul, all of them worried that the insult would cause him to lose his composure. To their surprise, he just rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Yes, yes. We all know that you're every pokémon trainer's nightmare. But what are you doing here?" he asked, his tone becoming curious. "You told me that you would never take part in another public competition again."

"That's what I thought at the time," he said, snorting slightly. "But Goodshow and Scott here decided that I couldn't retire in peace and dragged me out of retirement kicking and screaming." He glared at Goodshow and Scott, both of them wearing sheepish smiles.

Gary interrupted at this point, voicing the question that was on everyone else's minds. "Uh, sorry, but can one of you explain what the hell is going on?" he asked, not quite succeeding at keeping his frustration at being confused out of his voice.

At Gary's words, Goodshow began his explanation. "The five of you are the most powerful trainers that are participating in this training session. As such, you would normally receive little to no benefit from this camp. However, Ashura here has graciously agreed to help train you," he said, ignoring Ash's snorts and eye rolls.

"I trust this is agreeable to all of you?" Ash added, raising an eyebrow in amusement as they all quickly nodded in agreement.

"Well then," he said with a demonic smile on his face, "Let's get down to business."

Everyone, even Scott and Goodshow, felt a shiver go down their spines as they heard the note of anticipation and demonic glee in Ash's voice.

IIIII

All five of them collapsed, exhausted, in the room that they had been assigned to on Ashura's island, appropriately named Kaminari Kyuuden.

"I hate him so much," muttered Gary, desperately trying not to pass out on his bed.

"Damn you Ashura," Paul groaned into his pillow, thinking about just how he came to be in such a predicament.

~~Flashback~~

_All six of them stood in a large clearing on Ash's Island as Ash began to talk._

"_To be a successful trainer," started Ash, "One must have several key components. First, one must be as swift as a coursing river and have all the force of a great typhoon." At this, he suddenly disappeared, reappearing at the base of a tree on the other side of the clearing, 75 feet away, before slamming his fist into the trunk. The tree then proceeded to topple over, stunning the other five trainers._

"_Secondly, one must have all the strength of a raging fire and be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon." He then picked the tree trunk up, threw it up in the air, and promptly disappeared._

"_Impossible," breathed Sabrina as the other four turned towards her. "He…he's gone!"_

_Confused, Cynthia asked, "What do you mean Sabrina? You teleport all the time."_

"_That's just it," she said, "He didn't teleport at all! He's not using any psychic or aura abilities! He's just…gone!"_

_Just as she finished her sentence, a chuckle came from behind them. They all turned to see five glowing blue blades coming right at them. They threw themselves to the ground just in time to see the blades stop directly in front of where they would have been._

"_Finally," Ash said, amusement coloring his voice, "One must be tranquil as a forest, but," here he paused and snapped his fingers, causing each blade to erupt in a different colored flame. "You must also have a fire within."_

_After a moment of silence that none of them dared to break, he spoke again._

"_Now," he said as he grinned his insane grin again, "Time for all of you to start training."_

~~End Flashback~~

"I'm never gonna catch my breath," murmured Gary between labored breaths.

"May as well say goodbye to those who knew me," muttered Paul.

"Boy was I a fool in school for cutting gym," groaned Sabrina, using her psychic powers to readjust herself without actually moving.

_This guy's got them scared to death,_ thought Pikachu as he observed them all trying not to pass out.

_Hope he doesn't see right through me,_ thought Anabel, blushing as she thought about her plans already in motion to get to know Ash better

"Now I really wish that I knew how to swim," Cynthia muttered darkly, dripping wet from having fallen into a stream during training.

"Don't whine," came a voice from behind them, startling all of them off of their seats. "It's only noon. After lunch all of us are right back out there to really start training. Now, if all of you are done complaining about this morning's warm-up," here he stopped, smirking at the disbelieving looks he was getting before continuing. "All of you will eat and be back in the clearing in one hour with your pokémon."

He left the room, grinning as he heard the muffled groans and curses coming from behind him.

_(Can't wait until they start the _real_ physical training tomorrow,)_ commented Pikachu to his trainer, smirking as he saw Ash's grin grow even wider.

IIIII

**AN: Hey everyone, it's been a while! Sorry 'bout that, but I've had finals and papers and various other things that I really didn't want to do but did anyway :P. Then I had HUGE writer's block on the first chunk, and when I finally managed to work through it, I forgot how I wanted the second part T_T. I'm REALLY sorry everyone, and I promise to TRY not to let it happen again, but I can't control my insane life :P.**

**By the way, I've gotten some people telling me that I spelt "Raijinn" incorrectly. That was an intentional change on my part. Despite how small adding another "n" is, it made it feel…more pokémon-like. I don't know, call me insane (everyone else does :P) but I like it better. Plus it's what I have to actually type to get ****雷神 ****and it's FAR less work if I type it the same way :P.**

**Also, I'm going to begin adding translations for the Japanese words I use in or after the author's note in every chapter. I won't always use the CORRECT translation, but rather the one that sounds better, much as it pains me to do so :P. "Kaminari Kyuuden", for example, means Thunder Palace. On a related note, for all of you out there that plan to attack me for using Japanese, it's not because I watch a ton of anime or read a bunch of manga, but because I actually speak the language fluently…or fluently enough to hold a normal conversation with someone and survive in Japan :P. It's also a VERY important plot point. How's it important? Ummmm…Uhhhh…IT'S A SECRET!**

**I'd also like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers out there, especially the anonymous ones who I can't PM, and plead for more to join the ranks of reviewers :D! Please? ANYBODY? Well…alright then. **

**Finally, I based most of this chapter off of a song I was listening to while writing it. If you've heard it before, then you know exactly why I had to begin the training with it :P.**

**Whew! That was a LONG author's note. Anyway, thanks for reading, and remember to review, even if it's just to tell me just how much I fail at writing and at life :D!**


	7. A Punny Wakeup Call!

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 7: Aren't I _Punny_!

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: I may not own Pokémon, but, if you are reading this, I now own YOU! I expect my breakfast every morning at 7 o'clock sharp and my room clean before I come back from class.**

IIIII

Ash shot up in his bed, blasting the wall in front of him with an Aura Sphere, nearly hitting Pikachu in the process.

_(WATCH WHERE YOU SHOOT THOSE DAMN THINGS!) _shouted Pikachu, understandably angry at his trainer.

Ash ignored his irate friend and stretched before speaking. "I had the most miserable nightmare. In it, Goodshow managed to trick me into training a bunch of weaklings for the Tournament of the Divine. I'm so glad that it…" Ash trailed off into silence as he looked at his companion's face.

"You mean it's all true?" he questioned desperately. At Pikachu's nod, he slumped back onto the bed before saying, "That's it, I'm going back to sleep. There is no way that I'm going to train a bunch of…" whatever Ash was going to say was interrupted by the bolt of lightning that struck him. He turned to see a ghostly image obviously trying to hold back laughter.

~Oh, look. Mr. Kaminari Oyaji* is awake,~ said the figure, his voice quivering with barely restrained laughter.

Ash merely glared at the immature god before sighing.

"Would it really be that much to ask to have bonded with a god that _doesn't_ have the mental capacity of an infant?" he asked rhetorically before walking into the bathroom, purposely ignoring the ~Yes,~ from behind him.

IIIII

Paul had decided a long time ago that he hated Ashura with a passion rivaling only his hatred of weakness. He knew Ashura was powerful, of course; only maniacs or fools would underestimate an opponent of his caliber, and Paul was neither. No, Paul hated him for many reasons, but weakness was not the reason. He hated him because he was so powerful, hated him because he was always right, and hated him because Ashura was one of the few that had gained the honor of being his friend. Most of all, as he was reminded in that moment, he hated him because of his methods of waking people up.

"Salamence, go!" he shouted, releasing his pokémon before landing on it. He continued to watch as the other trainers fell into the lake before chuckling quietly. "I guess that it was a good decision to keep sleeping with my pokéballs," he mused aloud before flying back to the house to get some breakfast.

IIIII

It was an hour later when the others walked into the house, still slightly wet from their morning swim. As they walked into the house, they saw Paul and Ash finishing what seemed to be pancakes.

"Morning," said Paul, not even looking at the angry group, while Ash merely grunted.

"Is there any reason that we woke up to find ourselves in a lake this morning?" asked Cynthia through clenched teeth, attempting to keep a lid on her rapidly growing rage.

Ash pretended to think about it for a few seconds before replying. "Not really," he said, before going back to his book.

At the dumbstruck looks on their faces, Paul took pity on the rest of the group. "He always does this. You'll get used to it after a while," he said. He looked up to see incredulous looks on their faces before raising an eyebrow in question.

"How do _you _know that?" asked Gary in answer to Paul's unspoken question.

Paul chuckled before answering. "I have had the pleasure of knowing the _esteemed_ Ashura Satoshi for years now," he replied sardonically.

"I hate you too," replied Ash, still not looking up from his book.

The group, seeing that they would be getting nowhere with either of the two trainers in front of them, sighed before sitting down at the table.

"What's for breakfast?" questioned Anabel as she took her seat.

"For you, nothing," replied Ash, ignoring the angry and dumbfounded glares he was receiving. He finally placed a bookmark in his book before setting it down. "Rule number one," he said, still ignoring the glares. "If you're late for a meal, you don't eat," he warned before walking out the door of the kitchen. As the rest of the group continued to stare in disbelief, Paul chuckled and followed out him out the door.

At the doorway, he paused before he said over his shoulder, "I'd suggest following. He tells you the rules only _after_ you break them, and you don't want to learn the rest of them." Upon seeing the incredulous stares, he merely shrugged and continued outside. _This may be better than I thought,_ he mused silently as he jogged to catch up to Ash.

IIII

The group found Ash and Paul in a large clearing, chatting. The moment they walked in, Ash looked up and said, "Rule number two: don't keep me waiting." They all gulped visibly as they neared the pair. "Your punishment for being late will be a pokémon battle to begin your training," he continued, smirking as they all sighed in obvious relief.

Paul chuckled at their reactions, ignoring the fact that he had done the same when he was in their place. _I wonder how it will feel to be on this end for once,_ he thought to himself.

"So, who's up first?" he asked nonchalantly, glancing around.

Gary stepped forward before saying, "I'll go first." Ash merely nodded before turning to Paul.

"Will you judge the match?" he questioned. Paul nodded in agreement and walked to the side of the clearing. Once everyone was in position, he began speaking. "This will be a one-on-one pokémon battle. There will be no substitutions. The first person to have their pokémon knocked out or surrender will lose. BEGIN!"

As Paul finished speaking, Gary threw his pokéball, shouting, "Blastoise, let's go!"

Ash smirked before whispering sarcastically, "Pikachu, I choose you." The small mouse grinned viciously as it stepped into the arena.

Gary blinked at the sight of the yellow powerhouse, before shaking his head. _No, it couldn't be him. He's been dead for years,_ he mentally chastised himself.

"I'm feeling generous this morning, so I'll let you start," said Ash, grinning sadistically.

Gary, visibly nervous, merely nodded before saying, "Blastoise, use Hydro Cannon!"

Blastoise nodded and sent out two high pressure balls of pure water at the tiny mouse.

Ash's grin grew even wider as he shouted, "Pikachu, Kaminari no Tate**!"

Right before the balls hit Pikachu, a glowing yellow barrier appeared around him, sending them right back towards Blastoise.

Thinking quickly, Gary shouted, "Blastoise, Withdraw!" causing Blastoise to barely pull his body inside his shell before the attack hit.

Before the turtle could recover, Ash shouted, "Now! Raiden***!"

Pikachu began glowing before firing a massive burst of energy in the form of a bolt of lightning at Blastoise. As it hit, it caused a massive explosion, covering the field with dust. As it settled down, everyone could see that Blastoise was obviously knocked out. Paul raised his arm, pointing at Ash's side of the field.

"Blastoise is unable to battle. The match goes to Ashura!"

Gary looked at Ashura in disbelief, saying the only word that came to mind. "Damn."

IIIII

**AN: Hey all, sorry for the wait. I've got some SERIOUSLY intense work going on in school right now (can anybody say "Modern Physics" :P?) that I need to focus on, so this will probably be the update speed until summer. I'm also going to be throwing some Japanese jokes and puns into the story, so be on the lookout for the asterisk (*) that will mark one. I will translate them at the bottom of the chapter along with any other words so nobody has to find a translator or learn to type in Japanese :P. Along with the translations, I'll include the Japanese script (usually Kanji or Katakana, but if you want the Hiragana message me and I'll tell you. It's really only useful if you're learning Japanese or just curious. If you want to type in it you can just use the Romanized translation after downloading a Japanese keyboard setup) for everyone who wants to learn a couple phrases. I'll try to keep the groan-inducing puns to a minimum (unless of course my **_**adoring **_**fans want them :P). Until next time :D.**

***Kaminari Oyaji (****雷親父****) – Literally means "Thundering old man" and is a play on Raijinn's name; Rai and Kaminari are both possible pronunciations for the first kanji**

****Kaminari no Tate (****雷の盾****) – Literally means "Shield of Lightning"**

*****Raiden (****雷電****) – Literally means "Thunder and lightning"**

**Last chapter: Kaminari Kyuuden (****雷宮殿****) – Literally means "Thunder Palace"; another play on Raijinn's name.**

**Most of my jokes are electricity related; in fact, I'd call them quite "shocking" :D**


	8. Paul Learns a Lesson in Humility

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 8: …And Make it Double

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: Meh, it's **_**FAR **_**too tiring to be witty right now. I'll think up something TWICE as witty for next time. Does that work? No? Well screw you guys then. *Yawn* I'm going to take a nap now. You all know the drill.**

IIIII

The group stared in stunned disbelief at the slaughter that they had just witnessed. In answer to their incredulous stares, Ash merely turned and asked, "Who's next?"

At Ash's words, the entire group took a few steps back. None of them wanted to face such a crushing defeat at the hands of their sadistic mentor.

Seeing their actions, Ash sighed in annoyance. _I may have been a _bit _too harsh in that last battle,_ he mused to himself. _It looks like I'll have to choose my next opponent. Now, who should it be?_ His thoughts were interrupted by a soft chuckling coming from the sidelines. He turned and, seeing Paul laughing to himself at the obvious fear emanating from the group, grinned in sadistic anticipation.

As Paul saw the grin, he rapidly paled. _Shit, shit, shit, _he thought as he realized what exactly that grin meant for him. As he opened his mouth to protest, however, he felt himself thrown through the air before landing in the challenger's box.

"Why, thank you for volunteering Paul," drawled Ash, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Knowing that it would be useless to argue with the vicious man, Paul merely muttered under his breath about "Insane, sadistic bastards," and grabbed one of his pokéballs.

"Ms. Shirona, would you be so kind as to judge our match?" inquired Ash in a tone that left no room for argument.

"O-of course," stammered Cynthia before walking to the judge's box. She took a moment to collect herself before continuing.

"This will be a one-on-one pokémon battle. There will be no substitutions. The first person to have their pokémon knocked out or surrender will lose. BEGIN!"

As soon as she finished the last word, both trainers threw a pokéball and yelled, "TORTERRA, GO!" Both pokéballs opened to release two giant turtles, each with a massive tree on its back.

As soon as Paul saw that Ash had also chosen to use Torterra, he swore. _Torterra may be strong, but it has no chance of beating Ashura's. I really need to learn to be less predictable,_ he mentally chastised himself.

As though he were reading his mind, Ash chuckled before saying, "You _really_ need to be less predictable Paul."

Rather than reply to Ash's taunt, Paul quickly decided that the best offense was a good defense and began his assault immediately.

"Torterra, Hi ga Satsuei*!" he shouted, hoping against all odds that the unusual move would throw Ashura off. Unfortunately, he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Again with such predictable attacks Paul?" questioned Ash as he shook his head. "And I thought that I had taught you better than that. Oh well, I suppose that I'll just have to…reinforce the lesson a bit," he drawled sarcastically before suddenly barking, "Chikyuu no Hogo**!"

Instantly Ash's Torterra stomped the ground with a massive amount of force, causing a large dome of earth to form around him. The fire move hit, but was unable to penetrate the protective dome.

In the irrational hope that, somehow, keeping up the attack would prevent Ash's Torterra from attacking, Paul ordered, "Keep it up Torterra!"

Ash merely chuckled before stating, "Don't you know me better than that by now Paul?" He shook his head in exasperation. "You really _do_ need to start your training again. Barely a year without my guidance, and you're already slipping. Chikyuu no Ikari***!" he commented, shouting the last to his pokémon.

The dome started to curve before flying towards Paul's Torterra in the shape of a wave. It steadily increased in size as it headed towards the Torterra and gathered more earth. Right before it hit, however, Paul yelled "Withdraw! Quickly!" As his Torterra instantly withdrew into its shell, the tidal wave of soil and rocks crashed down around it.

Once the dirt and dust cleared, all that was left of Paul's side of the battlefield was a mountain-sized pile of earth. Suddenly, however, some of it at the base shifted and a limping Torterra pulled itself out before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Deeply shocked, Cynthia barely managed to raise her flag and stutter out, "T-t-the winner of this m-match is A-Ashura."

Paul quickly withdrew his Torterra back to its pokéball before turning to Ashura and, to the further surprise of everyone else there, bowed.

"Thank you for the excellent match Satoshi-Sensei. I request your permission to take my Torterra to the healing area before reassessing my training methods," he stated humbly.

"You are most welcome Mr. Shinji, and most certainly may do so. This has been, despite my comments during the battle, far better than I had expected," he replied, smirking slightly at Paul's confused look. "Not only did your Torterra manage to successfully crawl out of the mountain under its own power, it also managed to damage mine with that Fire Shot attack."

At this, Paul whirled around to see a single burnt leaf on the ground by Ashura's Torterra as it looked proudly at the pokéball in Paul's hand.

While not normally an accomplishment by any definition, against one of Ashura Satoshi's pokémon, it was an almost unheard of feat, having only been, until that point, accomplished by two people in the previous three years.

Barely keeping his face emotionless and stoic, he bowed once again before turning back towards the house. Before he could take another step, however Ash spoke once more.

"Actually Paul, might I suggest allowing me to heal your Torterra? We have some…guests arriving soon that I am _sure_ that you have been missing." He smirked at Paul's groan, positive that Paul knew exactly who he was talking about.

Throughout this entire exchange, the other four merely stared with their jaws hanging open, still not quite able to grasp what had just happened. Unfortunately, it seemed that whenever they finally managed to close their mouths, something inevitably happened to make them fall open once again, and this time was no exception.

"Prepare for trouble…"

IIIII

**AN: That's right, folks, it's the lovable trio of insanity that is Team Rocket :D! But just how have they changed in the past five years, and what is their new connection with Ash? Also, I'm aware that Paul gets pretty OC (even more so than usual :P) here, but, after being beaten by his teacher of three years or so (as you will soon see), he fell back into some habits that Ash beat into him. Also, while Torterra obviously cannot use fire type moves in the games, it technically **_**could**_** with a combo of Bullet Seed or another similar move and a Fire Fang (assuming that it could learn it), it would create an almost flamethrower attack. Anyway, it took me a bit of effort to get this one out there. I've also had the busiest week of the entire year, so it's been nuts. Sorry if it's kind of short, but it just wanted to end there.**

***Hi ga Satsuei (****火が撮影****) – Literally means "Fire Shot"**

****Chikyuu no Hogo (****地球の保護****) – Literally means "Earth's Protection"**

*****Chikyuu no Ikari (****地球の怒り****) – Literally means "Earth's Rage"**


	9. And Make It Double

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 9: Lovable Trio of Misfits

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: There are many things that I do not own. These include Zeus' Thunderbolt, Athena's shield Aegis, Thor's hammer **_Mjöllnir, the English language (in its proper or completely and utterly destroyed form), the Japanese language, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Ghostbusters_**. Not that any of those actually have anything to do with the story…yet. Oh, and on a totally unrelated topic, I also don't own Pokémon.**

IIIII

"…And make it double!"

The group spun around to see three humans and a Meowth standing behind them. Two of the humans were female, one with long red hair that stuck out behind her head and the other with orange hair down to her shoulders. The third person, a man, had blue hair down to slightly past his shoulders. All three had on white outfits with a large thunderbolt imprinted on each of their chests. All four had identical smirks on their faces as they took in the scene in front of them. As the red haired woman opened her mouth to continue their motto, Paul quickly interrupted.

"I swear to Arceus and each of the Elemental Deities, if you continue that disgusting motto I will make sure nobody ever finds your bodies," he spat with enough venom to cause the rest of the group to step back. Rather than intimidating the newcomers however, their smirks only grew as the Meowth replied to his threat.

"What's da matter Purple? I thought ya _loved_ da motto," the cat sarcastically drawled.

"T-team Rocket!" stammered Gary.

"But that's impossible!" protested Cynthia, "Team Rocket disbanded almost 4 years ago!"

Here the orange haired woman spoke up, saying "And do you know why Team Rocket disbanded?"

Cynthia instantly replied, "That information was highly-classified. Not even the champions know what happened. All that we were told was that we had some agents deeply entrenched in…" She trailed off as her face lit up in comprehension.

"That was _you_?" she asked incredulously.

Meowth rolled his eyes as he responded. "Ain't you supposed to be da smart twerp? Of course it was us! We was spies for nearly five years by da time Team Rocket was taken down."

"You're lying!" interrupted Gary. "That would mean that you had been working for the league at the same time that you were chasing…" Here Gary trailed off, not entirely sure how to finish his sentence without bringing up the topic of his dead friend.

James sighed sadly before responding. "Yes, it does. He was a great kid. In fact, it's because of him that we switched sides."

"Remember that Lugia fiasco a few years back?" interrupted Jessie. Upon seeing everyone's nods, she continued. "Well he convinced us to help him save the world that night and it felt . . . good. We realized that Team Rocket was just like that bastard Zero, destroying the world one piece at a time. So we decided to work for the good guys."

Everyone was silent for a moment or two before Ash asked, "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

This broke everyone out of their stupor and the orange haired woman responded, "What? Can't I come visit my old teacher and my old classmates?"

Ash snorted before replying, "Don't you mean that you came to seduce Paul and torment me with your mindless chatter?"

"That's no way to treat your former student," she pouted before turning to Paul. "Oh well, I guess that Paul will just have to . . . _welcome_ me," she purred, smirking at Paul's blush.

Ash just smirked at the byplay between his two former students. His smirk widened as he took in the expressions of his current students. Even Sabrina's mouth was hanging open, amazed at the scene in front of her.

"If you can stay out of Paul's pants for five seconds, I'll introduce you to the rest of these morons." Ignoring the shouts of protests from his new pupils, he continued on. "Everyone, this is Zoey Nozomi, Jessie Musashi, James Kojirou, and Meowth. This is the group of cretins that Chuck stuck me with." He gestured to the rest of the group, still ignoring their protests.

"Jessie, James, Meowth, follow me. Zoey, why don't you and Paul give these idiots," he paused, waiting for the inevitable protests to quiet down, "a little . . . _demonstration_ of what a battle between two equally matched opponents looks like."

The three of them drew closer to Ash and Pikachu before a bolt of lightning hit them and they disappeared.

As Ash and the others vanished, Paul and Zoey glanced at each other before smirking demonically at the rest of the group.

IIIII

In a room hidden deep beneath Kaminari Kyuuden, Ash and company materialized in his customary flash of light.

"SWEET ARCEUS ABOVE! DON'T DO THAT! I swear, one of these days I'll go blind!"

Ash turned around to see a young man that looked to be in his early twenties. His shoulder-length black hair and steel and leather brigandine-type armor, along with the massive broadsword strapped to his hip, steel shield slung across his back, and pistol in a holster on his waist, would normally cut a rather imposing figure. At the moment, however, the young man was rubbing his eyes frantically in a vain hope to clear his vision of the blinding spots that had appeared when Ash made his entrance. As he shifted slightly, a flaming Charizard was revealed to be embossed on the shield.

"I apologize for blinding you, Marcus. Next time, I'll take _special_ care to land where my entrance can't damage your _delicate_ vision any more than it already has," smirked Ash, sarcasm lacing his voice.

Ignoring his muttering, Ash turned away from the young man and back towards his companions, all of whom were smirking slightly in amusement.

"Jessie, James, Meowth, may I introduce to you, Marcus Zaragon, future leader of the Dragon regiment of Team S. Of course, you already know Chuck, Sammy, and Scottie over there."

True to his word, Charles Goodshow, Samuel Oak, and Scott Enishida were gathered around a table, chuckling softly amongst themselves.

"Don't let us old-timers spoil your fun. We'll just be sitting here drinking our prune juice and taking naps," Oak chuckled good-naturedly.

Ash snorted at the thought of the three powerful men napping. "Oh, of course, there's absolutely _no_ way that three of the greatest trainers in recorded history could contribute _anything_ to our meeting," drawled Ash.

Goodshow smirked. "Do we really seem like a threat, Ash?" he asked, his amusement coloring his voice.

Ash merely shook his head in exasperation before taking a seat at the head of the table.

"Down to business," he said, instantly gaining the attention of everyone there. While Ash may have lightened up slightly since the arrival of Raijinn, it still was not wise to anger him.

"No leads amongst the researchers," solemnly stated Oak.

"Nothing new in the League either," commented Goodshow, equally solemn. "The dragon pokémon are still getting stronger. It won't be long before Hebishinn appears."

Everyone turned to Scott. "Not much happening on the Frontier. Some of Brandon's pokémon have been acting up recently, but I don't think anything will come of it until the tournament."

Ash nodded before turning to Marcus. "How far are you in your training?" he questioned.

Marcus' face lit up as he answered Ash's question. "We're in the last stages of the transformation," he replied, excitement lacing his voice. "With a bit more work we should be ready within a week, two at absolute most."

Ash gestured with his hand. "Go on then, summon your pokémon. I want to see your transformation so far."

Marcus nodded and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, a roar was heard, momentarily deafening the group, before a small snake-like figure appeared around his shoulders. Marcus smiled at his pokémon.

"Nice job Danza," he whispered to the Dratini wrapped around his body. Danza purred slightly and nuzzled him before responding. _(You did an acceptable job as well, my human,)_ stated Danza, snickering slightly at the look on Marcus' face at being told his effort was merely 'acceptable' in the eyes of his pokémon.

Ash nodded before once more gesturing with his hand, as if to say, "Get on with it already."

Wisely not remarking on his mentor's impatience, Marcus once again closed his eyes, this time concentrating for nearly half a minute before the roar was heard, this time louder and accompanied by a slight flash. When the light died down, there was one figure where the two had been just moments beforehand. It looked nearly identical to Marcus, but the hood of his cloak was pulled up over his face and his armor had a slight blue tinge to it.

Suddenly, a deep, booming laughter sounded throughout the room. "Look at his face!" roared Raijinn, laughing up a literal storm.

Indeed, upon closer inspection under the hood, they saw that Marcus' nose had been replaced by Danza's, leaving a large, white nose that took up half of his face. Ash merely shook his head while everyone else joined Raijinn in laughter.

Marcus blushed heavily, creating an odd effect when combined with his blue skin. "I told you I'm still working on the transformation," he muttered under his breath.

Ash merely shook his head and, ignoring his sulking student, turned to Team Rocket.

"How's it going underground?" he inquired.

The three ex-criminals turned to each other and quickly nodded before facing Ash. Jessie seemed to be the spokesperson for the group as she hesitantly answered Ash's question.

"Well, rumor has it that a powerful energy surge was detected near your island…" Jessie trailed off, seeing the look of pure demonic glee on the faces of Ash, Pikachu, and Raijinn. All three started to glow and, right when the light reached its peak, their voices were heard in unison.

"It is beginning."

**AN: Hey all, I'M ALIVE :D! I'll explain everything during my next update, but I have less than a minute to upload this before my Fanfic first anniversary is over. See ya next time :D!**

**Updated AN: Alright then! Sorry for taking so long with the update, everyone, it won't happen again...probably :P. Anyway, I originally had this chapter done back in early March, but the day after I finished, the earthquake in Japan hit. I originally had an awesome Japanese saying at the end of the chapter that roughly translates to "Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Satoshi!" which is a play on the Japanese saying "Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Father," which means that the father of the Japanese household is as strong as any force of nature. However, I thought it would be in bad taste to post the chapter that way, so I started editing it. I didn't have a ton of time to do it because I had a huge final paper to write and a research project to finish. The day I finished the final paper, April 8, I decided that I would finish and post the chapter the next day. Unfortunately, I got a bad migraine that landed me in the hospital, which I was in and out of that week. The week I finally got back, I had to prepare to present my findings for my research project that I've been working on all year. From then until around the second week of May, I haven't even been able to THINK about finishing the chapter, let alone actually doing it. I finally finished in mid May and decided to wait until my Fanfiction anniversary to post it. Sorry for the long wait everyone. Hopefully this won't happen again.**

**Updated AN 2: Heh heh, I kinda forgot to mention that Marcus Zaragon and all of his pokemon belong to TheFanatics, not me. I promise not to forget again... U^_^**


	10. Making a Molehill Out of a Mountain

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 10: Making a Mountain into a Molehill . . . Literally.

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I DO, however, own the stickers that my English teacher puts on my papers when I get an A :D! …Yeah, that's right; I'm a senior who gets excited when his teacher puts stickers on his paper. It's HARD to get one of those stickers.**

**IMPORTANT!: This is no longer an Ash X One-sided Harem fic. Ash will probably not have a romantic interest in this story. Sorry to anyone that is disappointed, but I don't feel that I can write romance well. Other characters WILL have pairings, but they won't be integral to plot development.**

**Warning!: Strong language ahead! Proceed at your own caution!**

IIIII

Over the calm waters of the Tsugaru Strait (1) a figure could be seen flying back and forth, almost as though it were searching for something. Suddenly, it dived, parting the waters with an almighty splash. Several minutes later it surfaced before flying away. Three voices seemed to speak in unison as the figure left the scene.

"Raiden no Kougu." (2)

IIIII

At the foot of the sole mountain of Kaminari Kyuuden there sat a clearing in the otherwise expansive forest. In this clearing stood six trainers, two of whom stood on opposite ends of the field, facing each other.

"So, ready for me to beat your ass?" questioned Paul, a light smirk on his face.

"Mmm, of course. Although I'd far rather you pound it," Zoey responded, her voice husky and heavy with lust. Paul's smirk only grew.

"Who said I can't do both?"

A shout interrupted their pre-battle banter. "Hey! We're not getting any younger over here!" yelled Gary.

Zoey turned towards him and smirked. "That's ok, I happen to like older men," she purred, thrusting her chest out slightly. Everyone laughed at the small trickle of blood dripping from Gary's nose. Zoey turned back to Paul, pokéball in hand, the mood shifting instantly. Paul pulled out his own pokéball as they stared each other down. After a few seconds of tense silence, they both threw their pokéballs.

"Dazzle him, Yamanaka (3)!" Zoey shouted.

"Cut her down, Yamamoto (4)!" Paul yelled.

On the field appeared a Gardevoir and a Gallade, Yamanaka and Yamamoto respectively.

"Mmm, looks like somebody's brought out the big guns," Zoey smirked lustfully. Oddly enough, the same smirk was plastered on her Gardevoir's face. Paul and his Gallade crossed their arms and shook their heads.

"If you keep that up, someone will take it as an invitation," stated Paul. Zoey's grin grew even more.

"Who said it's not?"

Paul merely ran a hand through his hair, murmuring what sounded like "One of these days," under his breath. Composing himself, he decided to start the battle off before Zoey ended up killing one the rookies.

"Yamamoto, start this off with Yamaha (5)!"

The two blades that comprised Yamamoto's arms began to glow before he rushed off at top speed towards the mountain. Propelling himself in the air, he sliced the mountain multiple times before hitting it with a focused blast of psychic energy. The top half of the mountain split into several large chunks as they flew towards Yamanaka. Zoey merely scoffed.

"Really? You're going to start this off with such a weak attack? Fine, have it your way. Yamanaka, stop those boulders with Yama o Tsubusu (6)!"

Yamanaka raised an arm in front of her, fingers spread wide. The remains of the mountain stopped as a deep blue aura surrounded them. The Gardevoir suddenly closed her hand into a fist, causing the various pieces to implode; she turned the boulders to dust that fell to the ground as she dropped her fist.

The other trainers looked on in awe at the battle between the two titans. Sabrina and Anabel especially seemed surprised at the show of power from the psychic pokémon.

_Such power,_ thought the psychic gym leader. _I didn't think such a thing was even possible! Just what has Ashura done to make these trainers so strong?_

A shout from Zoey quickly brought her out of her reverie.

"Let's show these punks a real attack Yamanaka! Use Kawa Taihou (7)!"

At her trainer's words, Yamanaka raised her hands in front of her as they began to glow a light blue. The light began to coalesce in the form of a ball of light that she quickly pointed towards her opponent. In an impressive show of power, a large geyser of water, twice either pokémon's size, shot from her hands.

"Yamamoto, Kawa o Kiru (8)!" commanded Paul.

Yamamoto's blades began to glow the same blue that Yamanaka's had just seconds previously. He raised his arms, waiting for the water to draw closer. Once it finally reached him, he disappeared before reappearing in front of Yamanaka, the stream of water split into two. The Gardevoir quickly jumped back from the Gallade's blades as the water fell to the ground, narrowly missing the trainers observing the battle.

Both pokémon landed on the ground, panting slightly from the exertion of using such powerful combo moves. The two trainers merely stared at each other before gleeful smiles found their way onto their faces.

"Good match Zoey, but it's time to finish it," Paul calmly stated.

"Mmm, you're right Paulie dear, but let's go out with a _bang_, shall we?" purred Zoey, emphasizing the word bang.

The two stared at each other before calling out their final attacks. As though anticipating their commands, their pokémon moved before the two trainers even finished talking.

"Yamamoto, Ken Hassha (9)!"

"Yamanaka, Shi no Kyuu (10)!"

Yamamoto's blades began to glow a piercing white while Yamanaka's hands began to glow an endless black. Yamamoto's blades came together only to shoot out a blade of light, roughly the size of the mountain that had been all but destroyed in his first attack. Yamanaka shot out a ball of pure darkness, roughly the same size. The two attacks met in the middle of the battlefield, directly over the mountain, as they struggled for dominance. The power of the two attacks meeting caused a whirlwind to form, knocking over the observing trainers. Strangely, neither of the two pokémon nor their trainers seemed affected in the slightest.

As the attacks struggled, Sabrina quickly released her pokémon and, with their help, raised a psychic barrier, not willing to take chances with the power being released. Anabel, seeing what was going on, released her psychic pokémon and added her power to the barrier. Even with the power of a dozen psychic types and two extraordinarily powerful psychic trainers, the barrier barely held as the two attacks finally exploded in a massive column of light and shadow.

IIIII

As the smoke cleared, the four trainers gaped in awe. Where there had once been a massive mountain, there now stood a small mound of dirt and rock. On each side of the mound were a panting pokémon and its trainer. The tension was broken by a slow clapping, surprising the trainers. They had all been so engrossed in the battle that none of them noticed the man's arrival.

"I must say, I'm impressed," stated the young man, no small amount of amusement in his voice at their reactions.

A wide grin spread across both Zoey's and Paul's faces as they returned their pokémon. Zoey rushed towards him before knocking him over in a fair impersonation of a pokémon's tackle attack.

"Marcus! What are you doing here?" she shouted as Marcus unsuccessfully attempted to escape her fearsome embrace.

"Zoey! You crazy battleslut! Get off me!" he yelled, continuing his futile attempts. Zoey's only response was to grin even more and increase he death grip on the man.

"None of you would have me any other way," she claimed, looking inordinately proud while doing so.

"Zoey, get off the nice man," chuckled Paul, ignoring her pout and mock glare. When she finally complied, Paul reached down and pulled them both up.

"What brings you here Marcus?" he asked, rolling his eyes as Zoey wrapped herself around him.

"The old man and I just finished with a meeting. He'll be back soon enough. And speaking of the old man . . ." He took a moment to survey his surroundings before letting loose a low whistle.

"Look at what you two did to this place! He's gonna be pissed when he sees this mess. Doubt you two can find a way to slither out of this mess."

Zoey merely laughed. "Don't worry! I've got the perfect excuse!"

Before Marcus could further inquire about Zoey's alibi, he was interrupted by a debilitating sense of dread.

"Does anybody mind telling me what happened to my mountain?" whispered a soft, yet no less angry, voice. Gary, Cynthia, and Anabel, all of whom had been slowly backing away from the trio, turned and ran back to the house at the voice's words. Sabrina had teleported away the moment she felt the pressure in the air.

Zoey and Paul merely pointed at Marcus and yelled, "Marcus did it!" before following the others up the slope towards the house.

Marcus turned only to be met with the last thing he wanted to see: A very pissed off Ash.

IIIII

**Omake 1 – Raijinn no Densetsu: Ijigen no Ryokouka**

Deep under the waters of the Tsugaru Strait lies a symbol, carved into the bottom of the relatively large body of water. It had long been forgotten, slowly being covered by various plant life and debris. Suddenly, it began to glow with heavenly light. It was almost as though a switch was flipped by some divine being. As quickly as it began to shine, the light dwindled before becoming a dim glow.

IIIII Several Hours Later IIIII

Three figures descended into the depths of the Tsugaru Strait, water parting around the trio as though afraid to touch them. The three reached towards the symbol as one, each touching it at the same time. The trio became one as the heavenly light shone again, brighter than it had previously, before fading. In the hand of the single figure was a small cube, the symbol inscribed on each side. He held it slightly aloft, gazing at it before allowing a small smile to grace his features. Suddenly a voice sounded from within his head. Accompanying the voice was four notes, stirring a distant memory in the figure's head.

DUH, DUH, DUH, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

~You got the **Raiden no Kougu**! This mystical tool is said to have once belonged to the legendary god Raijinn! Set it to **C** to unleash its mighty powers!~

The figure sighed before pocketing the cube, the moment of triumph shattered by his companion's words. He flew away from the site, the water filling back in behind him. As two sets of laughter resounded through his head, he could only think one thing.

_How does one go about killing a god that resides in one's own head?_

Naturally, this only prompted more laughter from the god in question.

IIIII

**Omake 2 – Dovahkiin do Ao**

"What happened to you Ash? Why did you change so much in such a short time?" demanded Gary, the rest of the group nodding behind him.

"Why did I change you ask?" whispered Ash. "Why did I change so much?" his voice raised in volume before dropping again. "It's quite simple Gary." He turned and began to walk away, pausing halfway through the clearing.

"You know, I used to be just like all of you." He twisted his head back just enough for the group to get a glimpse of the look of demonic glee on his face. The grin on his face widened at the shudder that ran through them before he turned back and resumed his steady pace. Just before he left, he spoke one line. This line would twist their future in ways they never thought possible.

"Then I took an arrow to the knee."

IIIII

Translations/Explanations:

(1) Tsugaru Strait: This is the body of water that separates the island of Hokkaido from Honshu, the parts of Japan that Sinnoh and Kanto/Johto are respectively based off of

(2) Raiden no Kougu: Literally "Tool of Thunder and Lightning"

(3) Paul – Gallade named Yamamoto – means Foot of Mountains

Moves:

(5) Yamaha – Mountain Blade

(6) Kawa o Kiru – Cut the River

(9) Ken Hassha – Projectile Sword

(4) Zoey – Gardevoir named Yamanaka – means Middle of Mountains

Moves:

(6) Yama o Tsubusu – Crush the Mountain

(7) Kawa Taihou – River Cannon

(10) Shi no Kyuu – Death Sphere

BONUS :D!:

The combo that was used a few chapters back (Plan Epsilon) is implemented by a pokémon creating a light screen and infusing it with lightning. A delicate process that, when done correctly, will transfer the lightning at the first opportunity. This means that any conductor (a body, water, etc.) will conduct the electricity.

IIIII

**AN:** **Hey all! I won't bore you with a long author's note (and now that I look back on my previous ones, I realize just how long they really are) but I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry about the huge wait in between updates. Unfortunately, things have come up recently and this may be the norm for a while. I'm trying to deal with everything quickly, but life has been killing me since June and doesn't look like it will let up until summer. I promise that I WILL try to update though. To apologize, I included two Omake that celebrate the release of two games that have recently come out, any guesses as to which ones :P?**

**AN2: Looks like this WILL be an epic-length AN :P. I'd just like to take a quick second to thank everyone that has stayed with me with this story, despite the lack of updates. I'd also like to especially thank the following people for helping (read pestering :P) me to finally update: My entire family, TheFanatics, unnamed friends of my siblings (you know who you are), and Joe the Sophomore.**

**AN3: Anybody want to guess where the pokémon nicknames came from? It took me a long time to come up with them, and I'm rather proud :D.**

**Pokepikachu1 ****雷神**


	11. A Letter to FFN

I'm sure that many of you have heard of the recent changes to FanFiction(dot)net (FFN). For those of you haven't, FFN has decided to begin removing any and all stories that have "excessive violence" or lemons. Many have, of late, logged onto FFN and found their stories gone with no prior warnings and/or notices. Such blatant censorship and the seeming desire to cover it up or at least refusal to acknowledge it on the part of FFN has me worried for the future of the site. As such, at the risk of having my own story/stories removed for such an action, I am posting this notice/petition.

The notice is as follows. The next chapter of The Revenge of Raijinn will not be posted on FFN so long as the site insists on following their current policies. I have been working on this chapter for a while now, constantly fixing and changing it. This chapter has, since the prior was posted, been planned to finally earn that M rating. As such, it contains scenes of gratuitous torture, both physical and mental. I had been waffling between keeping the torture in and changing it, but eventually decided that the scenes were integral to both character and relation development. Since I have finally graduated high school (and gotten a full ride to an Ivy League College :D!) I had decided to finish the last few scenes and post it within the next week or so. Due to FFN's policies, however, I feel uncomfortable doing so.

Should FFN's policies not change, I will be moving to The Writer's Coffee Shop (TWCS), along with what seems to be the majority of the FFN populace.

My penname there is the same as it is on FFN, namely Pokepikachu1.

I desperately want to give FFN the chance to redeem itself, so my stories and I will remain here until July 2 (or whenever my story/stories are removed by FFN staff), at which point I will be officially moving to TWCS. As such, I plead that everyone read and sign it so that FFN staff will hopefully realize what a foolish decision they have made and reconsider their policies.

The petition is below, and I again strongly urge everyone to sign and post it, whether on profiles or stories.

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be losing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

Psudocode_Samurai

Rocketman1728

dracohalo117

VFSNAKE

Agato the Venom Host

Jay Frost

SamCrow

Blood Brandy

Dusk666

Hisea Ori

The Dark Graven

BlackRevenant

Lord Orion Salazar Black

Sakusha Saelbu

Horocrux

socras01

Kumo no Makoto

Biskoff

Korraganitar the NightShadow

NightInk

Lazruth

ragnrock kyuubi

SpiritWriterXXX

Ace6151

FleeingReality

Harufu

Exiled crow

Slifer1988

Dee Laynter

Angeldoctor

Final Black Getsuga

ZamielRaizunto

Fenris187

blood enraged

arashiXnoXkami

Masane Amaha's King

Blueexorist

Nero Angelo Sparda

Uzunaru999

Pokepikachu1


	12. Sabrina's Transformation

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 11: Sabrina's Transformation

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of anything that is remotely recognizable. This especially applies to Pokémon! Now if only Game Freak would call off the hounds…**

IIIII

Ash sat in his house, staring intently at the four people seated in front of him.

"Now what have you all learned today?" he asked.

"Pokémon are powerful creatures and are not to be underestimated?" ventured Gary.

"Your training methods are brutal and unforgiving?" guessed Cynthia.

"Umm, mountains aren't as sturdy as they look?" Anabel half asked, half stated.

"Untying ropes is not on the curriculum?" Sabrina commented, sarcasm lacing her otherwise bored voice as she pointed towards the hanging trio behind Ashura.

Indeed, Marcus, Paul, and Zoey were hanging from a ceiling rafter, tied together and slowly spinning. Paul seemed resigned to his fate while Marcus struggled futilely. Zoey, on the other hand, seemed to be rather enjoying her current situation, her face red and her eyes unfocused. Ash sighed before answering them.

"All correct yet all wrong. What we have learned is that we need to start training now if any of you are to have even the slightest chance of victory in the tournament." Ignoring the various looks of rage, disappointment, and apathy, Ash stood up. "As such, we will begin individual training."

Their faces grew interested; all of them wondering what he would be teaching that would need individual attention.

"Miss Natsume, follow me. Pikachu, watch them and make sure none of them attempt to free my wayward students."

Pikachu grinned darkly, causing the others to shudder as Sabrina hurried after Ashura. The dark haired man opened a door, not looking behind him as he began walking down a set of stairs. Sabrina followed, as she closed the door, she heard two cries from behind her.

"That door wasn't there before!" yelled Marcus.

"Zoey, stop getting off from this!" yelled Paul. Sabrina felt a large bead of sweat make its way down her forehead as she quickly followed Ash.

IIIII

As the duo descended deeper into the depths of the mansion, Sabrina's generally stoic expression gave way to a look of discomfort and slight apprehension. Her psychic powers were practically shouting at her, telling that something down here was _wrong_.

"Disturbing, isn't it?" came the deep baritone of Ash's voice, causing Sabrina to jump slightly.

"There's . . . something down here. Something unnatural," she responded in an undertone, as though afraid that the feeling would overtake her for daring to speak.

"I don't blame you." He paused for a moment, in thought. "Everyone feels uncomfortable down here. Most pokémon won't even enter the staircase, let alone the actual dungeons." Sabrina shivered at his tone. Despite the tales of Ashura's former students, his voice had always held some form of emotion, though it usually seemed to be either amusement or sadistic glee. It had never before seemed so empty. So . . . dead.

As though in response to the dark-haired woman's thoughts, a Gengar suddenly appeared before the duo. It took all of Sabrina's considerable will and training to keep from screaming in fright.

"Is he ready?" Ash questioned the ghostly apparition. At its nod, he resumed his leisurely pace down the stairs, Sabrina quickly following behind him. Before long, the duo reached a door that would not seem out of place in a high-security prison. Ash placed his hand where one would normally find a handle, causing the door to swing open with an ominous creek.

"Are the theatrics really necessary?" questioned Sabrina, unsuccessfully trying to hide her discomfort from the suddenly menacing man in front of her.

"Of course," he chuckled. "How else will they know to be terrified?" he asked rhetorically as he stepped through the doorway. Sabrina shivered as she hurried behind him, afraid of what would happen if she fell behind the man. Of course, the Gengar cackling behind her didn't do much to ease her feelings of fear.

IIIII

He had no clue how long he had been trapped there. In his cell, seconds became hours, which quickly became months and years. His only measure of time was in the visits from his tormentor. Even that wasn't a true indicator of how long he had been there, though. He wouldn't put it past the bastard to skip days or visit multiple times, just to mess with him.

He would never crack, though. Not as long as he had his wonderful goddess. The woman who had appeared to protect him and his mind time after time would never leave him.

As he reassured himself that his goddess would never leave, the door leading to his dungeon screeched open. He braced himself before he felt the terror that he could never describe, not even to himself. The terror that soon came into view alongside . . .

"No!" he rasped, straining his damaged vocal chords as he took in the figure of his goddess flanked by his tormentor and that abomination.

His eyes prickled as tears that his body couldn't find the spare water to make attempted to fall. The demon had captured his goddess.

His ears barely registered the words coming from the horrible creature in front of him, only catching his own name.

". . . Drew Shuu."

IIIII

Sabrina looked upon what could barely be called a human being in horror, unable to avert her gaze. The man looked more like a skeleton than a human, his skin only barely covering bone. He wore absolutely nothing, allowing her to see the multitude of scars adorning his body. He made a rasping noise that might have been an attempt to speak, but she was unable to truly hear it, terrified as she was.

Sabrina was so terrified, in fact, that she missed the frown on the face of her host, as well as the short interaction between him and his pokémon. She did, however, notice her body relaxing of its own volition as the ghost's hand passed through her skull.

"What did it do?" she asked, too calm to truly work up either anger or worry about what had just happened.

"Nothing much," stated her host. "Gengar just prevented you from passing out from the combined might of its aura and our prisoner here. It is a rather terrifying sight, isn't it?"

She felt the slightest hint of suspicion before that calming sensation settled on her once again. Sabrina turned back to the prisoner, this time surveying him with a detached expression. As she did, she missed the Gengar reaching back into her head.

"Who is he?" she asked, turning back to Ash just as the Gengar finished its work. He smiled slightly at her, causing a jolt of pleasure to shoot through her body.

"Miss Natsume, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Drew Shuu."

Sabrina stared at the man in front of her, the slightest feeling of sympathy forming in the back of her mind before it quickly disappeared.

"It is no pleasure at all," she stated, shocking herself slightly. She had not had any intention to say that, yet it had slipped out. She opened her mouth to apologize before the shock vanished, replaced by the persistent calm.

Ash smiled slightly upon hearing her words. His smile only grew as he saw the broken man in front of him begin to shiver violently. Now for the final push…

"Sabrina," he used her given name for the first time, smiling slightly as her body shook slightly in pleasure. "Would you be willing to do me a little favor?"

"Certainly," she answered immediately, her face slightly blanker than usual.

"Excellent," he grinned before turning to his Gengar.

"Gengar, show Sabrina your favorite trick." Upon hearing these words, the pokémon began to melt into the woman's shadow causing her eyes to widen before she slumped over. Ash caught her just before she hit the ground and laid her down gently. Ignoring Drew's cries, he watched a purple shadow move from Sabrina's head to Drew's, causing the man to also fall unconscious.

Unseen and alone, Ash began to laugh.

IIIII

Sabrina found herself floating in a white nothingness, accompanied only by the Gengar at her side. She felt herself flying before suddenly hitting something as the void around her began to take shape. A forest sprouted around her, though it was still devoid of life. She heard a sobbing from behind her and turned. Behind her was Drew Shuu who, upon seeing her, propelled himself forward, attempting to grab her leg.

"My goddess! Please, protect me!" he sobbed, clutching her foot desperately. She tried to step back, unsure of what to do, only to be met with that same overwhelming calm. Not seeing the Gengar take its arm out of her head once more, she looked down upon the figure grasping at her. A sneer made its way onto her otherwise wooden face.

_(Take this,)_ she heard. Turning, she saw the Gengar holding out a blade to her. It was purple and pulsated slightly, simultaneously repulsing and entrancing her. As she took the blade, she felt overwhelming malice surround her before disappearing. She turned back to the wretch clinging to her before she brought the sword down.

Drew cried in pain as his arm was severed from his body.

Sabrina grinned, never questioning why she had heard the purple pokémon speak nor where the blade had come from.

IIIII

Outside of Drew's mind, Ash watched in satisfaction as the green haired man's arm dissolved into a purple mist before being absorbed by the woman lying on the ground.

His laugh grew more sinister.

IIIII

Sabrina used her newfound weapon to cut away Drew's clothing before she cut off his other arm, a bubble of laughter forcing itself out of her lips.

"Did that hurt," she cooed before pulling the now freely crying man up by the neck. "Don't worry, Sabrina will make it all better."

The Gengar grinned as the mindscape was filled with the sounds of screams and laughter.

IIIII

Sabrina sat up, face red and breathing heavily. She looked around the dungeon and saw Ashura and his Gengar, but no Drew.

"What…?" she began to ask, only to be cut off by Ash.

"He's gone now. Your sword absorbed his very essence and added it to your power." He smiled slightly, causing Sabrina's face to turn even redder.

_Hm. It seems that Gengar did a better job than I could have ever hoped. Let's see just how deep this new personality reaches._

"So my pet, do you have any questions?" he whispered. Sabrina shivered in pleasure as she answered.

"Yes sir. How did your Gengar make this blade?"

The blade had followed her to the real world and she held it out for Ash's inspection. He took the blade, not truly looking at it.

_I see. She's completely subservient to me._ A dark smile made its way onto his face. _Perfect._

He returned the sword before answering.

"The Shinigami, Izanami, never meant to create pokémon of any sort. Her job was not to create, but to defend. All of her energy was put into maintaining the barrier between life and death. Such a powerful barrier takes far too much energy for her to effectively patrol the land of the living for those who refused to move on, however. As such, some particularly vengeful, powerful, and clever spirits were able to maintain their foothold upon the mortal coil," here Ash paused, taking in the woman's reaction.

"From this comes the birth of the various ghosts. The one exception to this rule, however, is Gengar. Gengar is born of betrayal. It is because of this that abandoning a Haunter causes it to evolve into a Gengar. These Gengar, however, will never reach their full potential. A true Gengar can only be formed from the shadow of one who has been completely and utterly betrayed by all. These Gengar have the power to entrap their foes in an eternal nightmare by causing them to feel the pain that their body has felt. They are, quite literally, the embodiment of all of the pain their host has suffered. Such is the case with my Gengar."

He turned towards Sabrina and, seeing the look of utter awe on her face, smirked.

"Gengar used this power to take your own negative emotion and form it into a weapon for you and only you to use."

_Of course, she also had to tie your positive emotions to something. Fortunate that I was around then, isn't it?_ he finished in his head.

He abruptly turned from the woman sitting on the ground and began walking towards the stairs.

"Come. You will need a full night's rest if you want to be ready for training tomorrow."

Sabrina followed obediently.

**AN: Whew, it's been a while, huh? Don't worry folks, I can guarantee that this story will never be abandoned. I love it far too much for that :D. In fact, that's why it's been taking so long. I've been trying to get the next chapter just right, and have constantly failed. I finally settled for what I'm doing with it and churned it out, so the chapter after next should be the start of the tournament :D! I'm hoping to go to a weekly update schedule, but I can't guarantee anything U^_^.**

**Sabrina's new mindset will play an important role later on, rest assured. There won't be any lemons in this story for those of you who are worried. There are multiple reasons for this. Firstly, I am unable to write them with any amount of skill and there is nothing worse than a poorly written lemon. Secondly I quite enjoy having this story allowed on FFN and I will be trying to stay here for now. Of course, if someone were to, say, write a lemon and let me know through a review or a PM, well . . . there's not much I can do, now is there ;D?**

**See ya all soon…hopefully!**

**Pokepikachu1**

**雷神**


	13. Training Days

The Revenge of Raijinn

Chapter 12: Training Days

"Human Speech"

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_

'_Telepathy'_

~Primordial Language of the Gods~

_(Pokémon Speech)_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. How could I? I'm just a poor college student T_T…**

IIIII

Paul woke once again to the sight of a lake quickly rushing towards him. He sighed before reaching towards his waist. He began to panic as he realized that he couldn't move his arms. Giving it up as a lost cause, he quickly decided on another course of action.

"Override code 638!" Paul shouted, praying that it would work. True to his hopes, a pokéball on his belt burst open, releasing his Salamence. He sighed in relief as he landed on the dragon pokémon.

"That was a little too close. He's getting trickier with the morning wakeups," he muttered before grinning to himself. "That means it's time for the real training to start."

His grin only grew at the shouts of the other guests. He spent the remainder of the short trip back to the house figuring out how to move his arms again. It wouldn't do to be eating breakfast without his arms, after all.

He'd leave that to the others.

IIIII

"In order to truly master the art of Pokémon battling, you must first master yourself," Ash calmly stated, looking at the trainers assembled before him. "For your pokémon draw their strength and will to fight from you. If you falter, if you allow your own insecurities to take hold of you, your pokémon shall fall," his words rang throughout the clearing. He paused before speaking once more.

"It is with inner peace that you can find your own strength, and it is this strength that will inspire your pokémon to greater heights than ever before."

"And how will we know when we've found this inner peace?" asked Garry, admittedly still a little peeved at having missed breakfast for the second day in a row.

At this, Ash raised his hand before allowing his normally tightly-controlled power to run free, causing electricity to dance across his fingertips. As if this was a signal, Paul, Zoey, and Marcus all raised their hands as one, allowing their own powers to flow.

Immediately, Marcus's hand began to glow a deep, royal purple. It gave off immense heat, causing everyone to take a step back. Water began to flow around Paul's hand soon after, whipping wildly all the while. At the same time, Zoey's hand began to give off a strange mist, sickly green in color.

Ignoring the shock on the gathered faces, Ash spoke once more. "It is the ability to completely immerse oneself in their inner force – their element, if you will – that shows one has found their peace. By the end of our time here, not only will your pokémon be able to draw strength from you, you will be able to join them if need be."

"E-Excuse me," Anabel muttered softly, seemingly afraid to speak up. "I-Isn't pokémon battling not, y'know, peaceful?"

Ash smiled in an attempt to put the girl at ease. Unfortunately, his general lack of practice with smiling frightened her even more. "You misunderstand me. I do not mean that one must no longer act in violence, but rather that one must have come to terms with one's self, faults and all." He paused, surveying the incredulous faces in front of him.

"Of course, facing one's true self is rarely an easy task. Every deep dark secret you've hid from everyone will be out in the open for all to see. Don't expect to come out of this training as the same person you were before."

"Now then," he said, a more than slightly maniacal grin lighting up on his face. "Who wants to go first?"

IIIII

Many miles away, in Kanto's Indigo Plateau sat a young, dark-skinned, spiky-haired man. Having successfully pushed away everyone once more, he sat isolated in his room. He stared blankly at the wall in front of him, once more wondering. Wondering at the decision he made five years ago.

It had all seemed so clear back then. The woman that was a mother to all of them had lain dead in a pool of her own blood. Her son, covered in her blood with a bloody knife on the floor next to him. The mutterings of "my fault" that were the only sounds that had penetrated the stifling silence. His refusal to answer any of their questions.

They had assumed that their young friend had snapped.

That belief had shattered at the trial. The look of betrayal in his eyes belied his otherwise blank expression. One by one, each of his friends there had testified against him, hoping to keep him safe from himself and others by locking him away. Anyone else who would have stood with him was gone – his mother dead, both Professors Oak at the annual convention in Mossdeep City, and those he had helped throughout his career unaware of the entire sordid affair.

And so, Ash Ketchum had been sentenced to a life sentence in the Indigo Plateau prison.

Of course, he never made it Indigo Plateau. Along the way there had been a giant explosion of purple light. Ash's guards had been found dead in front of the Viridian Gym. This had started a week long hunt for the man, finally ending as his friends had cornered him atop Mt. Silver. He had waited for them, looking out over the snowy peaks below. Never turning to face them, he had asked one question. One question that had broken their hearts.

"Why?"

Of course, fate had its way of striking right when it was least wanted. And so it did through the vessel of young Max.

"You murderer! I can't believe you killed your own mother! How dare you question us when you've killed someone?"

All had frozen in that moment, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

"I see," he had said, his voice as cold as the surrounding snow.

And with that, he had jumped.

They had found his body, broken and bloodied, at the foot of the mountain, and none of them had been the same since. Misty had taken to insulting everyone and everything, afraid to allow someone into her shattered heart. May had refused to talk to any of them again, pushing herself into contests in some futile attempt to honor the man who had been an older brother to her. Dawn had been hit the worst, and her psyche had…split for lack of a better word. She had taken to talking to herself constantly, holding a conversation with the one who had taught her everything she knew about training Pokémon.

And he seemed to be the only one who noticed what had happened. He, himself, had taken to leering at everything with breasts. Bringing his harmless flirting to near sexual harassment had been surprisingly easy for him. Always pushing the boundaries in the hopes that he could be brought to justice and atone for his crimes against his friend, however, wasn't. The constant shame and self-loathing that were his only companions ensured that.

IIIII

Atop the Silph Co. building, deep in the heart of sprawling Saffron City, stood two figures, each drastically different from the other. One stood tall, burnt orange suit standing out against the night sky. His companion, however, blended into the darkness with his body covering black trench coat. The only visible features on the man, in fact, were his green hair and red monocle. The orange-clad man fidgeted for a moment before breaking the silence.

"Are you sure this will work, Ghetsis? If it doesn't…" he trailed off, afraid to even contemplate the idea of not succeeding in their dangerous mission.

"Having second thoughts, Giovanni?" questioned Ghetsis, seemingly amused at the other man's dilemma. "I can assure you that we will succeed in this endeavor and that, at long last, our lord will be free."

"Yes, but…" Giovanni trailed off once more, as though afraid to even give voice to his concerns. The air surrounding the two men turned cold. Ghetsis's slight smile turned sinister.

"It would be a shame if you were to drop out when we're so close to our goals – when you're so close to finally finding your son." At these words, Giovanni stiffened slightly. He nodded, though it clearly pained him to do so.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of leaving now. I'm just…curious as to how our lord," here he gained a pained expression on his face, as if it physically hurt him to say it, "will be able to find him." Ghetsis chuckled slightly.

"Oh, he will. Don't worry about the details, Giovanni. Just trust in him and he will deliver your long-lost son to you."

Giovanni nodded, before abruptly spinning on his heel. He walked off towards the staircase, leaving Ghetsis alone on the roof. As the green-haired man looked out over the city, he felt a presence beside him.

"Yes. Soon you will be free, my lord. And then, with me as your servant, you will usher in a new era. An era where man will finally take his place at the top of the chain and these…abominations we call pokémon will be forever destroyed."

With this said, he spun around and fell backwards off the building, laughing as the ground grew closer. As he hit the shadows on the ground, he disappeared, leaving the empty streets quiet once more.

**AN: I actually made it on schedule :D! I am inordinately proud of myself :P. A bit of a short chapter, but the next one is finally the beginning of the Tournament of the Divine :D! There's obviously going to be a time skip, but more and more of the training should be filled in through flashbacks. Probably :P. It all really depends on what everyone wants :D.**

**Now, I have a couple of questions for everyone that I'd really like you all to answer if you get the chance. The first one is do you like the way this story is going? I really want to have the 'important' trainers working alongside their pokémon, but I'm not sure if everyone will like the ability to control elements thing. I would put it on a poll, but I kind of already have one up (that you all should check out :D).**

**My other question is more of a request. Is there anyone out there that would be willing to draw some cover art up for the story? While I can't pay for a commission in real money (please see disclaimer at the top) I can pay in information. I'd be willing to disclose some info about future chapters/plans for whoever draws me cover art. I think it's a pretty fair trade :P.**

**Pokepikachu1**

**雷神**


End file.
